Stories Behind the Scenes

From: pam22 11 OCT 01

My husband and I went to Walt Disney World for our honeymoon in October, 1999. On the first day we were there, we bought t-shirts with Mickey and Minnie above the caption, Honeymoon, Orlando, 1999 as souvenirs from the Merchant of Venus in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom. Three days later, we both wore the shirts on the last day of our honeymoon to Disney MGM.
We were waiting for the Mulan parade to start, when a cast member taking surveys stopped to ask us questions. We answered and she was on her way. Ten minutes later we were still sitting on our bench when she approached us with a yellow slip of paper. She told us a package would be waiting for us at package pick-up when we left the park. She smiled, told us congratulations and hurried off. When we arrived at package pick-up, we expected to find t-shirts or mugs. Instead, we found a porcelain Bride and Groom Mickey and Minnie figurine. Since our wedding had a Disney theme, the gift was perfect. We sent an e-mail thank you when we got home. A little piece of Disney magic.

From: Don 07 JAN 01

While on Vacation, my brother and his kids were waiting in line and we met a guy on vacation as well. after chating it up awile he informed me He was a Cast member from Palm Beach Fl. His name was Adam Also known as AJ JAMS Of Radio Disney. He was funny kidding around with the kids and other cast members. When we asked for his Autograph the other Cast members did the same. He made the wait alot of fun for all and My nephew's want to go to work for Radio Disney. AJ if you read this THANKS FOR THE MAGIC!! Don.

Tower of Terror

From: Annie 11 DEC 01

My family and I were at MGM Studios, and we were anticipating riding the Tower of Terror. We were very excited because Grandma was going to get on it! Much to our dismay, the line was being cleared by a cast member when we arrived. The line was shortening quickly as he told everyone to move along. None of us knew why, so we walked up to ask. When we did, the man looked at us and said, "YOU all can go ahead." We got on very quickly in a line that had been very long. We couldn't figure out why he was doing that, but we didn't complain!

Rockin Roller Coaster

From: Pluto 22 01 JUN 01

when I went to Disney world for my 100th time, I rode one of my favorite rides, Rockin Roller Coaster. When the ride first started, it felt a lot faster than when I had rode it the day before. the ride was going extremly fast! Then, when we went under a street sign, we stopped. We sat there for about five minutes, then the music stopped. then all of the lights came on. Finally, two cast members had to come out and get us and have us walk out of the ride. We had to clime down a very big ladder and fallow a path. We were not alowed to take any pictures, but it was really cool seeing the inside with all of the lights on. We had to walk al the way back through the catapolt area where the ride starts. The two cast members said that the ride was going too fast than what it should be going. I had more fun doing that then riding the ride!

Animation Tour

From: Ry Ogron 07 OCT 99

During the animation tour when the put you all in a room to watch an actual animator draw(extremely cool)i noticed alot of cool things. A Batman and Wolverine were hanging from his desk as well as alot of Disney characters. I guess all animator can do this, but i just found this extremely cool to see up close. Also afterwards I stayed behind to see what he does with the drawing that he draws in front of the crowd(Pooh screaming b/c he went on the TOT)it was very cool, but he said he couldn't give it to me and they threw it away because it would be unfair to give it to a member of the audience.

I was chosen to be an extra in Indiana Jones. As we waited onstage our hostess told us the director was coming over to greet us. She then said "Don't say anything about his bad hairpiece!" Well, all the time he was talking to us (on microphone) he would reach up and tug on his hair a little. Not really noticable to the audience, but it kept us all giggling like schoolkids! If you do get chosen as an extra, try to get in the center of the croud as you run out on stage. Be very excited and keep eye contact with the asst. director. You may be chosen to do "The Death Scene" which is probably the best thing to do in the park. Its fun, exciting, and is probably the biggest applause for a non-employee anywhere in the WDW complex!

I think this is kind of interesting. Me and my friend were riding The Great Movie Ride, and were
in the first row, in show b. (where the gangster hijacks you) We have ridden it so much, that we
memorized all the lines. So when the gangster hijacked our car, and right before the
"Alien" scene, when the gangster says "Oh, dead end", my friend said it
before the ganster, and i think we messed him up, because he started laughing when he said it.
So when he says the line "Snakes, why did it have to be snakes", he said
"snakes" and gave the microphone to us, but we didnt know the line, so he said it.
We rode it again, for the 2nd time in a row, this time in row two, and got the same gangster,
and when he said "snakes" he gave us the microphone, and we said why did it have to
be snakes. Then, we rode it again, this time we got row eight, and when the tour guide says
"um, are you talking to me" the gangster said "no lame brain, i'm talkin to the
kinds in row eight, yeah im talkin to you" and, of course let us say "why did it have
to be snakes, we got that guy cracking up. The guys name is Danny. I was wondering, because i
left 2 days ago, if anyone that sees this could ask to see Danny, and if they say hes not there,
or working, ask if the people could take a mess

From: Jonathan Claydon 23 JAN 98

I was visiting WDW the month before MGM opened since we were staying at
a Disney Resort my family was offered the chance to participate in a
sneak preview of the soon to be ready theme park. (I forget what year
it was.) Not all the attractions were open, but the first thing we did
was go on the Great Movie ride. Everything was amazing until our car
reached the area the separates the Tarzen stage from the Casablanca
scenery. Then our car stopped and wouldn't move at all. After an hour
of listening to Tarzan's roar, and the elephants and monkeys screeching
my sanity was all but gone. That was a number of years ago, and to this
day I have the lines from those two areas memorized.

Hi. You may not care, but I thought this was pretty funny. When my
family and I went to WDW last summer, we were at MGM and it began to
storm.

We searched for an indoor ride,and chose the Great Movie Ride. We'd just
exited the Chicago scene, and were up to the part in the Western scene
where
the guide ran out (I guess that was supposed to happen) and some of the
actors came out and had to ad-lib!! It was terrible!! The electricity
had
gone out, and it was an electric car!!

Well, this small girl up front
took over, grabbed the mike, and sang the Ittsy Bittsy Spider! I then
asked my mother for a quarter, called the cowgirl over, handed her the
money and told her to "call someone who cares"!! (I'm in the 6th grade)
They ended up escourting us out with the worklights on, and we were back
where we started. In the rain!!

I worked as a gangster (Mugsy) at the Studios from September 1990 - March 1991.
Lots of crazy things used to go on in the Movie Ride - especially because I
was in the College Program - a wild program (you should ask former College
Program folks to submit items).

Anyway, the story I was going to tell didn't happen to me but to another
character. During the Annubis scene in the ride, a cowboy (the character
that is in front of the gangster) was pulling his car into the scene. He
read his line about "wanting to heist that jewel" and then ran around the
car and up the stairs to do the scene. Unknown to him a guest in the back
right of the car (by the stairs) had puked (hurled!!!) onto the floor in
front of the stairs. The cowboy was running quickly (probably late on the
timing) and slipped on the puke and smacked his head open on the floor. (He
was okay though).

At the time, they were working on the stairs on the left of the Annubis. So,
the tour guide (who returns to the car) had to come down the same stairs.
The cowboy tried to warn him while they were doing the scene. But, the
tour guide came down the stairs and also slipped on the puke....smack!

Then, next came the gangster car into the scene and again slipped on the
puke..smack! But the tour guide coming down missed it and they cleaned it
up in the next round.

Kinda funny! Everyone got puke on them and banged their head pretty good.
The Annubis scene was very dangerous back then. I hear it is much safer now.

Also, when I was gangster and it was a slow time, we used to go out into
the gangster scene (when no cars were coming) and hide ourselves in the
scene. Usually we would just hold super still in the shadows where people
could see us, but they would think we were animatronics.

Then, one gangster would be doing the scene and (at the time) the line was:
guide: "Hey are you talking to me?" and the correct response was:
gangster: "No lame brain I'm talking to the dame back there in the funny
hat, of course I'm talking to you."

But we used to say:
gangster: "No lame bain, I'm talk to the guy over there in the shadow!"

Then, eveyone would look and usually it would throw off the tour guide and
they would forget their lines. Then when the shooting starts all the
gangsters would come out and shoot their guns.. what a racket.

It was also fun back then because the (male) tour guides used to do a
dramatic dying scene where they would peel back part of their shirt to so a
fake blood stain, they they would fall back or dive into the pit (on the
mat) below stage left. They later cut out this whole part of the scene. Now they just run away.

When I was a tour guide, I used to get girls I was dating (who worked in the
ride) to wait down there on the mat and we would make out,
etc. in between doing shows. Fun!

We used to do a lot of things that weren't SOP (standard operating
procedure) and we used to get in a lot of trouble. I'm sure many folks have
stories like mine.

I worked as an MC for the Special Effects and Production Tour one summer. We always had
"Make A Wish" kids or other special groups come into the queue area early, escorted by
Disney Liaisons. We recognize these liaisons from the plaid vest they wear. One afternoon,
while I was about to do the show for the Special Effects Water Tank, I noticed a liaison had
walked in with a family. No big deal - I performed the show as usual. After the show, fellow
Cast Members came up to me and patted me on the back stating what a great job I had done and
asking me if I was nervous. I inquisitively said no, why? They said because George Lucas was
in the audience with his family. I had no idea George Lucas was watching and it was a good thing
I didn't. I probably would have fumbled my lines from being so nervous.

I went to school with Jim Henson and thought you might be inter-
ested in this bit of trivia. Our Jr. High Art teached Miss
Silverstein taught us to make those muppets, only they wern't
called muppets then. We took chicken wire and formed it around
our hands and into head shapes; covered them (week after week)
with paper soaked in laundry starch. Shaped some more. until we
had.... Oh well. During college (U of M) Professor Puglease of
the Art Department told Henson he should get rid of those puppets
and get a new major. Jim honored him years later with a muppet
effigy: you know the two old men, Waldorf and Statler, in the balcony with never a nice word
for anything. I don't know which is which but Pugleses is the short chubby one, and
I don't know why Hotel magnates.

The first time I rode the Tower of Terror I had a camcorder on a shoulder mount. I had the camcorder running the entire ride. I also got the 'jump seat' for that ride. I made sure that I hooked the seat belt loose enough to allow me to float when the car got pulled down. When I revewed the tape the camera was looking at the top of the elevator cage. At that time I had floated to the top of the car. The next time I rode in the 'jump seat' the cast member came over and rehooked my seat belt for me. I guess they didn't like me floating away. On another note. Most of the props in the Tower were bought not made. I found that out during a pre-opening tour that I took.

TOWER OF TERROR. Being that Tower of Terror is one of my favorite rides, my friends and i went on it time and time again. After awhile, actually the second time on, we didnt want to see the movie portion of the ride. This occurs when u are in the elevator that is supposivly taking u up to the top of the building. Anyways, my friedns and i noticed that if u were the very first people in to the elevator u could actaully run out thru the door that was closing from the people that just left in front of u. when we were too late, we simply stuck our hands in the little crack between the edge of the door and the wall, and the door opens right up. It has a sensory on it that keeps it open so no one can get caught in it, just like a regular elevator. Well needless to say, we got caught doing it on about the third time, and were held back by the attendant and almost got escorted off the ride. oh well, it was better then watching the movie part for the billionth time.

From: anon 03 MAR 98

On my first trip to Walt Disney World we decided to go on the Tower of Terror. Anyways,you know how if you get to the park early everyone at the gate runs to the really fun ride first. So, we were running the marathon to the Tower of Terror and my mom noticed that all the husbands were running ahead and calling to their wives and children to hurry up. When we go their we got on the first ride. I put everything except for my baseball cap into my bag, since I planned to stand on my hat. Any way, you know how they open the doors to take the pictures at the top and then they drop you? Well I'm really afraid of heights and since you could see for like 2 miles I was really freaked. So they opened the doors and I in turn hid my head. At the end of the ride I picked up my stuff and noticed that my hat was missing. My sister said "oh that's what flew by my head" I was sort of upset because earlier on the trip one of the attendants at EPCOT had run up to me on one of the conveyour belts to ask me where I got it and that it was a collectable. (It was a Star Wars PILOT hat) The attendant told us that it probably went up the shaft. They clean it out everday so they said I should come back later. When we returned later they had found it so I was very happy.

It was my first trip to Walt Disney World, and my dad and I decided to
go on Tower Of Terror. While waiting in line I noticed that right
before the big plunge some outer doors open and reveal you sitting in
the little cage to everyone that happens to be looking up at the right
moment. I started thinking about unique photo opportunities and said to
my dad that we ought to take a picture right after those big doors open.
So we were all ready with our cameras as we twisted and turned on the
elevator before you drop. As soon as the doors opened we were ready and
both of us snapped a picture. After the ride was over we started
towards the exit and heard some laughter. We came around a corner and
saw many people huddled around a tv screen and laughing. We scurried up
to find everyone laughing at a picture of everyone in our cage right
before the big drop. And in the picture sat my dad and I with our
cameras poised over our faces. We ended up buying the picture that the
Tower Of Terror took of us taking a picture.

One of our family's most exciting adventures occurred in June,1995 at MGM, when we were trapped in the
Tower of Terror. Not as part of the normal ride, but really trapped. We had ridden once before
and decided to go again. We thought that something was different when, instead of leaving the up
elevator and rolling across the floor in our compartment as we had the first time, we stopped just
before entering the drop shaft. As 20 people sat there locked in a cage in darkness so total you
could not see your hand in front of your face, it became very apparent that something had gone
wrong. After several minutes of questions, jokes, and nervous laughter, I asked if someone had a
lighter. Of course, as soon as one was produced the lights came on. We found ourselves sitting
just a few feet from a large door. We thought we saw people next to us, but when we waved we
discovered it was only a mirror.

After a few more minutes an employee appeared from behind a partition. He talked to us as he
opened a control panel. Inside the panel were buttons and a phone. Pressing a button he opened
the door to reveal... nothing! The platform which carries the compartments was not there. If the
door had opened and we had rolled a few more feet, this ride would have been our last.

Apparently, the safety lockouts shut down the whole ride when the platform was not where it was
supposed to be. After much time on the phone, the platform finally appeared and we were
informed that the only way down was to ride the ride. He reassured us that we would have a
unique experience because the lights would stay on. I think it may have been scarier that way
because you could see how fast you were falling as you watched the wall fly past your face.

When we reached the bottom another employee informed us that because of the inconvenience,
we would be allowed to take another ride immediately. Everyone accepted. We were taken to a
regular elevator, transported up one level, and taken through an entrance directly to where you
stand to enter the ride. We received some strange looks when we told those waiting behind us that
we were getting an extra ride because we had just been trapped on the previous one. This time, it
worked just as it was supposed to.